How I Got Here

My name is Rich Heidorn Jr. and I'm just a poor writer like you. Or I was until I left The Philadelphia Inquirer nine years ago.

I joined The Inquirer in time to be part of one of the truly golden eras of newspaper journalism. Having just vanquished the rival Philadelphia Bulletin, The Inquirer was hiring new reporters by the dozens, opening new foreign and national bureaus and allowing reporters to spend months, even years on investigative projects. We won 18 Pulitzers in the 17 years of Gene Roberts' tenure as editor.

When Roberts, worn down by the annual budget fights with Knight-Ridder management, retired from The Inquirer in 1990, he nonetheless assured us that the budget cuts had not "struck any arteries."

But the financial pressures accelerated after Knight Ridder Chairman Jim Batten -- a respected journalist who went corporate to keep an eye on "the bad guys" -- died of brain cancer in 1995. He was replaced by beancounter Tony Ridder, who had as little talent as a business leader as he did experience in journalism.

Thus it was that I returned to school for an MBA. It could not be healthy for journalism, I reasoned, for editorial to be constantly playing defense when it came to budget time. Better to have journalists learn enough business to go on offense: developing new products, eliminating unnecessary inefficiency (recognizing that reporting is often messy and inefficient) and finding new ways to package and monetize new and archived content.

In 1999, however, I left The Inquirer for an Internet start up with five former Dow Jones executives. Although we raised $5 million in venture funding, I didn't get rich. When we ran out of cash 3 1/2 years later, I walked away with little more than a Lucite paperweight with a facsimile of the company's worthless stock certificate.

Yet I have no regrets. The start-up gave me experience in sales, marketing, management, website design and business strategy. I remain infected with the entrepreneurial bug that struck me nine years ago. Meanwhile, despite the heroic efforts of those who remain, the newspaper industry shrivels and wheezes, shedding journalists and ambition.

In the last several years I have launched a Spanish-language publishing company, studied web design and begun experimenting with video production. Working with my tech-savvy son, I have developed several websites for myself and other clients. I am eager to share what I have learned. And I look forward to learning from you.

*NOTE: Inquirer editor Bill Marimow is a mentor and a friend of mine, my former boss and a great journalist. If anyone can regenerate excitement in The Inquirer’s newsroom it is Bill, whose two Pulitzers were for local coverage. I hope that new owner Brian Tierney -- despite his past attempts to bully The Inquirer’s coverage of the Philadelphia archdiocese -- will show repentance by supporting the paper with adequate resources, modest profit margin expectations and honoring his promise to keep his hands off editorial decisions.